Buffet Gánh Khách Sạn Bông Sen — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

We came by here for our dinner buffet on the 2nd day of our HCMC trip. The cafe has a nostalgic and vintage feeling with the historical decor and pictures around.

We arrived at 5.45pm despite of the heavy rain and we sat at the lobby. And the staff came and ushered us in at 6pm.

The buffet spread was not bad and quite extensive and you could enjoy nice local foods and BBQ grilled seafood and considering the price, it's actually good value for money. And a number of foods were yummy too (though some were either bland or too salty). Iced tea and orange juices were inclusive in the buffet but not coffee.

The BBQ grilled counter had two chefs manning, each cooking seafood like prawns and mussels, the other beef and meats. However, one chef, the male chef in middle aged had attitude problem and practised favouritism towards locals. Our group comprised of 6 persons (with few senior citizens) and so one of us went up there to collect the grilled prawns as the seniors had walking difficulties and also we did not want to crowd the counter, imagined if all of us went there to take. At first, the ready grilled prawns were there for diners to take (but then due to "high demand", it's the chef who cooked and then served you). We took 6 prawns but the chef stared at us and was unhappy and we pointed him to our table and each of us only had one prawn each.

As the grilled prawns were nice, after this round, we went back to take again. This time the chef told us we cannot take but he would plate for us and gave us only two prawns. Wasn't it buffet and freeflow? And we didn't waste the food. However, the diner behind us (who did not want the prawn but only wanted beef) had four prawns given to her by the chef, which she signaled she didn't want but the chef insisted giving her. And he smiled at her but showed us angry face.

Throughout our dinning, we rotated ourselves (less the senior citizen) to go up and took the prawns and each time the chef would show us an unfriendly and unhappy face but to others, he smiled broadly and his change of facial expression was like a "chameleon". At first we thought he might be in bad mood but not the case as his angry face was only directed at us (we didn't even talk or raise our voice at him and somehow he didn't like our faces or because we were not locals) and not others. And he didn't cook the prawns well as some parts were still raw (grey in colour) and so we requested him to recook them thoroughly and he was even more angry.

Other than this chef, the other staff were generally ok and efficient in clearing our plates though they did not smile too (less the counter staff who ushered us in who smiled).

It's quite value for money considering the spread and price paid (it's 50% less than the buffet we have had the day before though that buffet included lobsters, fresh oysters, sashimi and beer).

Foodwise ok, but the chef service...

The only positive aspect of the Bong Sen Hotel was its location; however, numerous issues overshadowed this advantage. The language barrier made it challenging to communicate needs effectively. Despite trying to overlook this hurdle, the room presented multiple problems—a persistent unpleasant odor, stray hairs underneath the bed, and a recurring smell whenever the AC was turned off, necessitating constant deodorizing.

Booking a superior room without a window led to an assigned corner room that was noisy due to the AC outlets of all rooms being located outside that window. Additionally, the adjacent service lift added to the disturbance.

Despite notifying the staff in advance about an early check-out, there were delays in completing the process. Overall, the experience at the Bong Sen Hotel was marred by cleanliness issues, noise disturbances, and communication difficulties, detracting significantly...

If you are foreigners or group of family just want to tatse various foods, I highly recommend you should visit this restaurant. Located in Bong Sen Hotel at G floor, the buffet setves mostly sounthern styled food of Vietnam. The taste is balance, not very sweet (as traditional food in the South is often cooked sweet). This place is suitable for single person of big group of people. The price is reasonable, lunch is 299,000 VND per pax, the rest I will put in...